The Unravelling
by Miss Romance-Lover
Summary: Ste is settled living with his new family until stepmother Sam arrives home from work with unexpected news. Unbeknown to her, it's something that's about to turn Ste's world upside down yet again.
1. Chapter 1

**The Unravelling**

Sam Lomax - or DI Lacey, as she was known during working hours – was starting to wonder whether this village ever had a quiet week. She had only been living here for a matter of months, and already she'd dealt with the aftermath of a bomb explosion, the death of a killer doctor; investigated the murder of a sergeant, and she was _still_ on a mission to bring down Trevor Royle.

The fact was, this man was at the forefront of her police work at the moment – at least as far as _she_ was concerned. So when another name was brought to her attention; one that had nothing to do with anything as far as she was concerned, she paused only briefly to acknowledge that she'd heard of him.

"Ma'am?" the sergeant pressed when she made no comment. "What do you want to..."

"The man's locked up for life, there's nothing _to_ do," Sam cut him off.

"So you don't think there's any point in listening to this new evidence?"

Her head snapped up abruptly at that. Why hadn't she listened to the details? "Hang on a minute," she said before her DS could give up and disappear. "Talk me through it."

Minutes later, Sam was forced to abandon all thoughts of nailing the local scum-bag, instead ending up sitting in the interview room opposite a brightly dressed blonde woman.

Looking at the paperwork in front of her, she gazed patiently at her unlikely-looking interviewee. "Cheryl Tenbury-Newent?"

"Yes," the woman replied, her voice quiet but clear.

"I gather you told my colleague you have some new information about the conviction of Brendan Brady?"

Cheryl nodded, and as if Sam wasn't surprised enough that the elegant-looking woman was here in the first place, the next words out of her mouth shocked her even more.

"I'm his sister," she replied.

There was a brief silence while the Inspector digested this. "I see. In that case, I appreciate that this must be twice as difficult for you, so please take your time. What can you tell me about the murder...er, the _death_ of your father?"

Cheryl visibly flinched at Sam's mention of her father, but managed to compose herself enough to speak. It wasn't until more than an hour had passed that either of the women emerged from the room.

Two things were on Sam's mind after she'd finished taking an official statement. The first was that an old case would most definitely have to be re-opened, with immediate effect. The second thing? Now more than ever, she needed to get home to her girls, hug them all tight and remember how lucky she was to have them.

* * *

Ste was just about to plate up a special meal he'd made for the Lomaxes when Sam arrived home. "Just in time!" he announced, turning from his spot in the kitchen to smile at his step-mum.

She didn't say anything, which, in the short time he had known her, struck him as odd. Usually she had plenty to say after a long day's work – especially in a job like hers.

He watched as she headed straight for Peri and hugged her close, before repeating the process with Leela and Tegan, one by one. Something had obviously happened, so Ste abandoned the dinner and went to sit next to Danny, who looked just as concerned as he did.

Leela was the first to question it. "Mum? What's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Sam waved a hand in dismissal of her strange behaviour. "I'm fine."

"You sure love?" Danny asked. "You look a bit peaky – are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, no I'm fine, really. It's just a work thing that's all. Something unexpected came up today and it sort of put life into perspective."

"Well go on then, if it's got you this worked up," Tegan probed. "What happened?"

"You know I can't tell you about my cases," Sam shook her head.

All the girls laughed. "What, so it's alright for us to hear you moaning all day about that Trevor and how you're going to bring him down, but now something interesting happens and we don't get a look in?" Leela was rolling her eyes, and Ste kind of hoped his older sister's cheek would do the trick. He was starting to get more than curious himself now too.

Sam cracked a smile for the first time that evening. "I doubt 'interesting' is the word you'll be using in a minute," she sighed. "Okay, I'll give you the watered-down version."

Ste noticed her glancing quickly at Peri before continuing, and he gathered that the full story of whatever she was about to share was too disturbing for young ears.

"So, this woman turned up today wanting to talk about her brother, who's in prison for murder. Multiple murders, actually."

Peri's interest was already piqued. "What did he do?"

"Nothing you need to hear about," Sam replied, her tone firm enough to stop her youngest daughter from prying further.

"Go on Sam, carry on," Ste prompted, his cooking long forgotten now.

"Right, well, she said she had evidence about his convictions. Or at least for the most concrete one, which was for the murder of their father. It happened right here in this village, as well."

Everyone began speculating then, wondering what the details were before Sam had even finished. But Ste suddenly felt out of focus. _A father's murder. In the village. A brother and sister..._

It was all too familiar. He had to hear more, but at the same time he was terrified to.

"So what was her evidence, Mum?" Tegan was asking now.

"Ah, I think telling you that might be pushing the limit," Sam said now, looking as though she was just about ready to shake off the day.

"Oh come on, give us _something_!" Leela exclaimed in frustration. "You're the one who walked in dishing out cuddles like they were going out of fashion!"

Peri rolled her eyes. "They went out of fashion _ages _ago anyway."

"Hey, I'll remember that!" Sam chuckled. "But point taken ladies. Alright, one last thing and then this subject is closed, okay?"

The whole room nodded their agreement. Ste sat tranfixed, waiting for the unwitting confirmation he wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Did I tell you, this woman was dressed like a proper _lady,_ posh frock and everything," Sam told them. Ste instantly pictured Cheryl and Nate in their big posh castle, the wealth of Ireland in the palm of their hands.

"Anyway, she said that her brother suffered an abusive childhood at the hands of their father, and that around and up to the night of his death, he was continually nasty and threatening to him."

Ste felt his heartbeat quicken it's pace. That was all the detail he'd needed to know for certain. The rest of the family buzzed with shock around him, and something else akin to excitement. The gossip theme in this case felt utterly foreign to him.

He studied his stepmother's face, trying to work out if part of what had been left unsaid included a new confession from 'the sister'. But he simply couldn't tell. Here was a woman with a very good poker face.

The bottom line was, the peace that had descended over his life in the last month or so had suddenly been shattered. Whatever the full story was on Cheryl's visit to the police station today, he could feel something very definite in his bones.

Brendan's fate was no longer sealed.

**Please Review!**

**x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for such lovely reviews – I didn't expect the amount of interest this story got and as a result I've found it impossible to keep it as a two-parter, so this is the 2nd chapter of I don't know how many, depending on everyone's thoughts. Please keep letting me know what you think – I hope I can do this idea justice.**

_Chapter Two_

Sam made her way through the village, in a hurry to get to work. She passed Trevor Royle on her way, and he smirked at her in that infuriating way of his.

For the first time in weeks, though, she let it go over her head. He'd get what was coming to him eventually. In the meantime there was a case re-opening today that was a far better use of her time than chasing after a smug conman – and one she had almost lost her job over.

Before she had left the house, the girls had bombarded her with more questions, still fixated on the details Sam had given them the night before. To them it must have felt like she'd given away a _lot _about the Brady case; but in actuality they didn't even know the half of it. She had ended up telling Tegan and Leela that all the facts would be common knowledge soon enough anyway, assuming that a retrial would go ahead.

Ste had been behind them, listening in silence, but at that point Sam noticed him disappear upstairs. It had baffled and concerned her, and she would have gone to check on him had she not been in a rush.

She knew he had lived in the village for years, so he was likely to have known the two people involved in this investigation. Perhaps he was anxious that he would have to answer questions about it, Sam mused. Maybe he'd known them well – although he hadn't said a single word about it since she'd brought up the subject last night.

As she made her way into the building, she wiped her mind clean of that possibility. Right now the focus was on the man locked up for the crime, and his younger sister who had suddenly confessed to it, completely out of the blue.

"Morning Ma'am," her sergeant greeted her at the desk. "She's in the interview room. Ready when you are."

"Thank you," Sam replied briskly, never one to dawdle as she headed off in that direction. Besides, she was hoping to be posing questions to someone else by that afternoon.

* * *

"You alright Ste?" asked Danny later that day as he pottered around the house, trying to find his keys. He had a later start today because the students in his morning classes were on a school trip. He'd decided to catch up on a bit of marking from home, but now that he was heading off he noticed how quiet his son had been.

Ste looked up from his spot on the sofa, where he was lounging in front of the TV without really watching it. "Hmm?"

"You don't seem yourself today, that's all," his father replied.

_You've only been in my life a few months, how would you know? _Ste couldn't help thinking. He was then immediately glad he hadn't said it out loud – it wasn't fair when Danny and his family had been so good to him, made him feel like one of their own.

The thing was, it was still true. This man didn't know him as well as he thought he did. He probably thought that _Doug_ had been the love of Ste's life; although that would be understandable, considering he had never even mentioned Brendan to him.

"I'm fine, Dad," he said, glancing away from the screen and managing a smile in an attempt to placate him. Danny made a grab for his keys when he spotted them on the coffee table, hesitating to look at Ste properly.

"Honestly, it's nothing, I think I'm just coming down with something. If I perk up later I'll go and open the Deli. Go on, you'll be late for work."

Danny didn't look sure, but one look at his watch and he couldn't argue with the point made. Ste sighed in relief once he had gone, finally left alone with his thoughts. He hadn't been able to sleep at all last night, too stunned and worked up over what the hell could be going on with Brendan and Cheryl.

He just couldn't understand what had made her come back here – why would she choose to dredge everything up _now_? She'd spent nearly a year living on Brendan's sacrifice and even though she was trying to help her brother, Ste knew he wouldn't thank her for it.

"Okay, spill the beans," announced Leela, making Ste jump as she emerged from upstairs.

"I thought you were working!" he exclaimed loudly as he slumped back against the cushions.

"Yeah well, you thought wrong. I went this morning, then came home to bed, and I'm back on shift in an hour. That's what happens when you're an on-call fire-fighter. You'd have known if you hadn't disappeared earlier."

Ste looked at his irritating older sister and sighed. He might have known that wouldn't have gone unnoticed. He simply hadn't been able to cope with what Sam had told them, and hearing that one of the most traumatic events in his life could soon be brought up all over the news _again_...that had mad him feel sick.

Once upon a time, talk of a retrial would have given him hope, but not now. Not now when he'd finally reached acceptance that he would never see Brendan again.

And yet there was so much floating around his brain, tormenting him while tempting him at the same time. There was the fact that even though Brendan had confessed to five murders, there had only ever been one body accounted for under that admission; and that was the one being looked into. That was the one body he had _not_ been responsible for.

Leela waved a hand in front of Ste's face. "Earth to Ste – are you going to answer me or not?"

"Not," he sighed in reply, his mind still working overtime.

"Right well, don't say I didn't try then." She took the remote control from his grasp – he hadn't even realised he'd been holding it – and changed the channel.

"I was watching that," Ste argued, knowing even as he said it that he'd already made it obvious he wasn't watching anything at all.

"Like hell you are," Leela shook her head, apparently not ready to give up after all. "And I don't believe you're 'coming down with something' either. You've been acting dead weird ever since Mum came home last night. What's the problem?"

Ste laughed bitterly and without humour. "You make it sound like I'm just in a mood," he replied. "I _wish_ that's all it was."

"You're actually starting to worry me now."

"Glad I'm finally interesting enough for you."

"Ste! Will you just start making sense please?"

"Just forget it, Leela. If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He turned his face back towards the screen in an attempt to end the conversation.

"Seriously? You're using that one on me? That line never works on TV either."

Ste had stopped listening to her. His eyes were glued to the headline that was flashing up on the news channel she had just put on.

And by the looks of it, it was something that had already been announced by the time Leela decided to start playing twenty questions.

* * *

Sam looked at the bearded man sitting opposite her and tried to work out what to say next. She had just told him that his sister had confessed to killing their father, and his reaction had been a distressing sight.

His face had contorted into a look of genuine physical pain as he'd cried out in protest and so far he had only uttered one word: _"No."_

A good few minutes later when he appeared to have settled down somewhat, Sam spoke again. "Cheryl has told us everything in detail, Brendan. Are you going to sit there and tell me it's all a pack of lies? There are things in her statement that I can't imagine any woman making up."

It seemed to dawn on him exactly what she meant by that, and his hands gripped the table until his knuckles went white.

"No."

Sam simply couldn't decipher whether he was answering her question, or whether he was speaking out of pure disbelief. The only way to find out was to keep talking to him, so she started by asking him about Seamus Brady. Were the things she had recently been told about him true?

Brendan's body went limp in his seat. If he was pale before, now he was positively lifeless but for the fact that he was still breathing. It was immediately clear what the answer to her question was.

He was silent but visibly agitated throughout the rest of the interview; if it could even be called that, Sam mused to herself.

"What can you tell me about the gun from that night, Brendan?" she asked, remembering a detail of Cheryl's new statement that the woman had looked deeply affected by. "You pointed that gun at officers outside the scene of the murder, but left the bullets inside a jacket pocket, didn't you?" she continued. "The jacket you draped around your sister's shoulders before you went up to that balcony."

Sam waited to see if Brendan Brady would answer her, but he had closed his eyes now. Seconds later he opened them and looked her straight in the eye. His voice cracked with the words.

"It was supposed to be the end."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

"It was supposed to be the end."

Brendan's jaw slacked as soon as the words had left his mouth. He had never admitted that to anyone; had never intended to.

The woman he'd said it to, the Inspector, looked just as disturbed as he felt. It was a surprise to be faced with a woman in the job; he was used to talking to men when it came to the police. For the first time since he had been locked up, he felt that he was being treated like a human being. She was hard-faced, this DI Lacey, but she had kind eyes and it was this that made him want to tell her things.

"Brendan?" she probed gently. "Can you tell me what you mean?"

He was fairly sure it was obvious what he meant.

"_DI Lacey_," he said, smiling at her. "What's your first name?"

The woman looked unnerved, but only for a matter of seconds. "We're not here to talk about me."

"If I'm going to tell someone something personal, I prefer to know them by their Christian name."

For another minute they both sat in silence. Brendan was sure he'd made her uncomfortable enough to halt the interview, but she surprised him by meeting his eye and nodding.

"Sam," she replied, a careful edge to her voice.

"Well, Samantha. Have ye any idea why a man would decide to point a secretly unloaded gun at armed police?"

"I was rather hoping it wasn't how it sounded," Lacey told him. "You wanted to die that night, didn't you?"

Brendan continued to find surprise in her words. "And that disappoints ye? I thought the police were always happy to take down murdering scum."

The Inspector grimaced. "Not when they're tricking us into thinking they're armed. Or confessing to a murder they didn't commit."

"My sister...what have ye done with her? She's not involved in any of this." He couldn't understand what had happened to make her crack after all this time.

"Brendan, Cheryl has made an official statement. She was very clear about what happened in that club."

"No!" The outburst startled the woman, but Brendan couldn't contain that air of calmness any longer.

"What she told ye about our father, what he did to me, that's...it's true." He squeezed his eyes shut, finding that he had to grip the table all over again to steady himself. "Cheryl had only just found out what he was really like. _I_ shot him that night, when he tried to attack me. Ever since then, she's felt guilty that she couldn't help me when we were kids. That's all this is, okay?"

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "You really thought this through, didn't you? Covering for your sister. You wiped that gun clean of her fingerprints, made her promise to keep quiet about her part in it. And then finally, you let everyone think you'd killed Seamus in cold blood. Cheryl told me, you know - she really thought you were going to explain; claim self-defence, even. So why didn't you?"

Brendan didn't answer.

"The thing is, you're right, Brendan. Cheryl wanted to protect you. That's what made her pull the trigger. So _you've_ been protecting _her_, only you can't. Not anymore. You must realise how easy it is to work out: there's no way you could have pulled a gun on your father, the state you were in. That bullet wasn't fired at close range, Brendan."

He'd slipped up there. The act he'd kept up with for months was crumbling around him. Why was it that this woman was willing to believe better of him? No other officer would even have questioned his story – it would never have got this far. Chez's confession would have been wriiten off. _She _would have been written off as mentally unstable, an unreliable witness.

"I'm still a murderer," he said eventually, reminding the Inspector of the other names he'd spoken of on that balcony.

"Well, my predecessors took your word for that, and it's something else we're having to investigate much more thoroughly. But the only body you were officially held, charged and convicted for was that of Seamus Brady."

And now Brendan clicked onto what she was implying. The DI didn't believe in any of his confessions. "Ye think I belong in the nuthouse." He'd often thought that himself.

"I've not said anything of the sort."

"Only because ye have to be careful," he shot back.

It was then that Samantha Lacey completely disarmed him. She brought up the one name he hadn't allowed himself to think about since resigning himself to a life behind bars.

"What about Steven? Cheryl mentioned him, too. You gave him up to do this for her, didn't you?"

Brendan felt every single slither of self-preservation fall away in that moment. Suddenly, all that was left in its place was pain.

* * *

_'Chester Killer to face Retrial - new evidence brought forward'_

Ste stared at the screen and tried to remember to breathe.

"Blimey," said Leela. "That's got to be the bloke Mum was telling us about. Ste? _Ste_?"

He turned back to look at his sister, completely unable to compose himself. "What?"

"You've gone all pale."

Ste knew he wouldn't be able to explain it to her. "Forget it. It's fine. I'm going out." He stood up, found his jacket and opened the door.

"Oh my God, it's him isn't it?" she stopped him, turning up the volume on the news. "That killer - you know something!"

"I told you, just forget it." He walked outside and slammed the door behind him. She didn't follow him and for that he was grateful - even if it was only because she just didn't care enough to bother.

Ste started running, not stopping until he was standing outside a familiar nightclub - one that had the wrong name but held all the right memories. He stood rooted to the spot, neck craned up towards the balcony. This was where a life just within reach had been shattered, right in front of him.

"Stevie boy!" Trevor's voice bellowed down at him. "Don't tell me, you've come crawling back for some work."

"I've not got a death wish, so _no_," he replied, turning and walking away before the man could see the tears that had been threatening to fall since before he'd left the house.

"Shame, that!" called Trevor. "You had your uses as my little assistant."

He ended up sitting by the fountain, only to be interrupted from his tortured thoughts by Tony, who was walking by with one of his twins. He took one look at Ste and parked the pram up, sitting down next to him.

"I've just seen it," Tony said quietly. There was no question as to what he was talking about. Anyone who'd been here at the time would know exactly who that news bulletin was about. "Been trying to ring you."

Ste's voice was flat. "Left my phone at home."

"Right."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, baby Anthony becoming restless until his dad rocked him gently on his knee.

"Have you told your family?"

He snorted. "How can I? Sam's the investigating officer!"

Tony sighed, apparently having nothing to say to that. He was thoughtful for another moment. "Ste, do you know anything about this 'new evidence'?"

He looked at his friend and nodded. He wasn't going to say anymore on that subject, and he hoped Tony wouldn't ask him. To anyone who'd lived in this village long enough, it shouldn't be a surprise that he was privy to all of Brendan's secrets. The problem was that he didn't have a clue _which_ piece of evidence had come to light. Had Cheryl really told the police everything?

Thankfully the next question he faced was something he _could_ answer. Despite what this was doing to him, he'd known what he was going to do since the moment the headline had caught his attention.

"Are you going to see Brendan? At his retrial?"

And Ste nodded again, because of _course_ he had to go. Even though he still wasn't allowing himself to hope; even though he was supposed to be moving on. But then, this wasn't supposed to happen either – it had never been a part of Brendan's plan.

"_I'm going away for _life_, Steven. Ye gotta live yours."_

Sam's voice cut into the memory. "You're not...oh God, it's _you_!" She had appeared in front of them as if out of nowhere, seemingly on her way home, and now her face was masked in horror.

Ste had no idea how much she had overheard, but even so her comment made no sense to him. "What is? Sam?"

"You're Steven...you're _his_ Steven?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Lovely reviews, thank you! In other news I did something I said I'd never do last night – I uploaded a Stendan wedding story...if you're interested, it's called **Big Day**. Anyway, back to this one - hope you like this latest chapter.**

_Chapter Four_

Sam looked at her stepson, stunned beyond belief. "You're _his_ Steven?"

Ste looked first at her, then at Tony who looked as though he wanted to leave, but didn't. "You mean Brendan's?" he asked in a shaky voice. "Yes."

"When she mentioned the name it just didn't click..." she trailed off then, and a look of understanding came over his face.

"She? So it was Cheryl who told you about me?"

Now that names were being mentioned, Sam couldn't stop herself from acknowledging the case – she just had to be careful about what she revealed.

"Yes, it was. You're close to his sister as well then, I take it?"

Tony rose from his seat then, putting the baby back in his pram before coming back to pat Ste on the shoulder. "I'll leave you two to talk. You know where I am if you need me, okay?"

As Tony disappeared back in the direction he'd come from, Ste returned his gaze to Sam's. She sat down beside him, noticing that he was close to tears.

"Sorry," she said gently. "I'll leave the questions for now."

He was quiet for a moment longer, then decided to give her an answer. "She was one of my best mates. Still is. We used to talk all the time when she lived round here – even when her brother was being a nightmare." Ste's face lit up briefly with a fond smile, but then he seemed to remember that anything he said about Brendan could now be used as ammunition by the police.

"Brendan couldn't accept who he was, not for a long time. Even when I knew he really loved me, it took him ages to actually _commit_."

Sam had to look away as she remembered the conversation she had just had with the man himself.

"What's Cheryl said?" he asked, and when she looked at him again he looked pained. She fought off the instinct to ask him what he knew.

"I can't talk to you about that, love."

"Thought as much." Ste laughed bitterly then. "We're all living in Brendan's old house, did you know that?"

She nodded. "I didn't until this morning. Quite a strange thought."

"It's much stranger for me, trust me. Before all this came up it actually made me feel closer to him. Now it just means I can't hide from it."

"This has hit you really hard, hasn't it?"

He didn't answer, and she gave herself a telling off for asking such a stupid question. Right now she couldn't tell who was in a worse state: Ste, or Brendan Brady.

As a Detective Inspector she wasn't supposed to be concerned over the welfare of a self-confessed murderer, but today her hard exterior had begun to crack.

"Come on, let's get you home." She stood up, holding out an arm for him to take. To her surprise, he gave her a small smile and took it, linking it together with his as they walked.

"What are you going to tell the others?"

Sam returned his smile, one eyebrow raised at his question. "Nothing. I'm not allowed to discuss my cases outside work. You know that."

She could see that he understood her meaning. Tonight wasn't about squeezing anyone for information or revealing anyone's secrets. It was about looking out for a member of her family.

* * *

It had been worth a shot, asking Sam what was going on. Ste knew there was no way she was going to tell him, but she also seemed to be putting off grilling him about Brendan's crimes and for that at least, he was grateful.

When they got back to the house, Leela was waiting for them. "What the hell was all that about before?" she demanded of Ste.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I just had to be somewhere."

"That's rubbish!" she shot back. "It was about that killer Mum's investigating, wasn't it? Did you know him?"

Ste looked at Sam, who was doing her best to look indifferent as she wandered over to the fridge for a bottle of wine. "I've lived in this village for years. Of course I knew him," he replied eventually. "Now will you just _leave_ it please?"

Before his sister could say anything else he was off and up the stairs. He sat on his bed and found himself staring into space, trying not to think about how he was once again losing his grip on normality. He was left alone for all of an hour, until Sam popped her head round the door, silently asking if she could come in.

"I just wanted to let you know something," she said quietly once she had shut the door behind her. "I've just been told that Brendan's name is being released to the press in the morning. I still can't tell you any details, but I wanted this to come from me, to give you a bit of warning for what it's worth."

Ste stared wordlessly at her for a few seconds. Come tomorrow, everyone in the area would know his ex-boyfriend was all over the news, and he wouldn't be able to keep the information from the rest of the family anymore.

"Thanks," he managed. "For telling me."

Sam nodded and then left him to it. Ste didn't know how she was keeping a lid on all the questions that she was no doubt desperate to ask him. He was sure that if her colleagues knew who he was, he'd have been brought in for questioning in the blink of an eye.

Then again, Cheryl had obviously brought up his name because he was fuelling her guilt for what she had done; but that didn't mean he was known to the police as anything other than Brendan's ex. Unless they'd felt it necessary to put 'Steven Hay' on file as the man who had called the police on _that night_. He had no idea how the procedure worked.

There was a lot he still didn't know. Like _why_ this was happening, or rather why _now_. Something must have happened; something that changed Cheryl's situation enough to make her fragile enough to confess.

_If_ that's what she had done.

* * *

Cheryl Tenbury-Newent gripped the paper cup in her hand and took a sip from it. Lukewarm tea. She had been used to piping hot liquid in china cups since moving to Ireland to marry Nate.

It was a ridiculous thought to have while sitting in a cold prison cell, having just confessed to murder. But she was clinging onto the life she'd lost because pretty soon it was all going to be a distant memory. She had nothing in her life of any worth now that she had lost Nate.

She had forced herself to be strong for the funeral. Well, strong enough to get through it, anyway. A day later she had booked the quickest flight out of Ireland and walked out of their mansion, leaving behind everything but the clothes on her back and the few necessities she required to get her from A to B.

Friends had told her, in the days after Nate had been taken from her, that she would get through it. She could 'come out the other side' and learn to be happy again. And maybe she could have, if she hadn't been keeping this secret. Her husband had been her only confidante when she was struggling to cope with it, and without him there was no way she could keep going as normal. He had been more than capable of justifying her actions, but she had never been able to justify them to herself.

Cheryl knew Brendan would be angry with her for doing this. He had made the biggest sacrifice for her and now, because her future had gone up in flames, here she was rocking the boat for everyone else.

Confessing to her father's murder was just as selfish as it was self_less_.

The thing was, she no longer needed her freedom. Even on a good day, she had hated herself everyday for being the reason Brendan was ripped so cruelly away from Ste.

"_So close," _Brendan had said that night when they had talked about a future with the man he loved.

Now she was going to see to it that they got one step closer to the future they deserved.


End file.
